Error Poems

By Yuan Changming

Teh

A finger neither deformed nor really fat
But it happened to hit the wrong key
At the right moment, or the right key
At the wrong moment, thus making
A handsome typo stand out
Among all normal-looking words

On a different keyboard
You would be a thrilling improvisation
A fresh note rather than a strange noise

Or, like a comet in the summer sky
You might strike the whole night bright

You are never meant to be, but you always are
The commonest nonsense making perfect sense
In every context, or are you not?

Word’s Wisdom

Each error leads to
A terror, just as does

Every if to a wonderful wife
Or even
An accomplished life

Happy Error

The greatest mistake he has made is
His success in winning the heart
And then the body of a pretty woman

But since their quick marriage, he has been
Suffering from an emotional bully, who
Makes him cry tearlessly in the depth
Of nightly loneliness while he knows
She is the only, the best woman
He is fated to share his life with forever. Indeed

Like Xanchippe who supposedly turned a
Depressed man into a philosopher, she
Is a god-sent to make him a poetry author

The Master Mistake

Just as your authentic being was actually
Nothing but a sperm that had traveled astray
So the only child you have was accidently
Switched by the midwife without even herself
Knowing the truth; by logic extension

The Ikea bed in which you have been dreaming
Was delivered to you in the wrong size, while
The flight ticket issued always has your name misspelt
Furthermore, your primary id number has remained
As confused as your sense of reality is confounded

In an older sense, Eva meant to eat an onion instead of
The apple. Adam was created out of the wrong material
And each unique being is but an exception to the rule
Yes, the whole human world is composed of errors, which
Is the only truth, the entire truth of this universe

Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver; credits include ten Pushcart nominations, the Naji Naaman's Literary Prize 2018, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1,449 others worldwide.

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